Survey study, 2017
Does less sleep lead to irregular periods in teenage girls?
Yes. Girls who sleep 5 hours or less per night are much more likely to have irregular periods than those who sleep 8 or more hours. Of 801 girls studied, 15% had irregular periods.
What they did
Researchers analyzed sleep and period data from 801 Korean teenage girls ages 12-18 from a national health survey in 2010-2012. They compared how much each girl slept to whether she had irregular periods.
What they found
Of the 801 girls, 120 (15%) had irregular periods. Girls with irregular periods slept significantly less on average than those with regular periods. Girls sleeping 5 hours or less per day had a much higher risk of irregular periods compared to those sleeping 8 or more hours.
What it means for you
Getting more sleep may help keep periods regular. The main limit is that girls reported their own sleep and periods, which may not be completely accurate, and this is from one country.
801
girls studied
120
with irregular periods
15%
had irregular periods
About the study
- Original title
- Association between sleep duration and menstrual cycle irregularity in Korean female adolescents
- Authors
- Nam GE, Han K, Lee G
- Journal
- Sleep medicine
- Year
- 2017
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 120
- What was tested
- None, observational study.
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2017.04.009
Topics
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